Implications of Blood Magic
The group, aware that Sun Doru's plans to help in this investigation of Blood Magic, join to defend his word. Hokusai suggests that they look out for the courtier called by Little Scorpion, a veteran of the Kaiu Wall. He tells them that he was assigned to the court of Kyuden Chirei in the Dragon Heart Plain for the winter, but some faux pas resulted in his removal. He often wanders around Nanashi Mura and is know to keep an eye on Shadowlands creatures and the local eta. If someone has been using Blood Magic, he would be the first to notice. They are joined by Shin. This Crab ronin seems to know Little Scorpion but says little, buying supplies for him and excusing himself to return to his home at Bushi's Row. The group continues alone. Yatori and Sumire notice an armored man sneaking around and prepare for confrontation. As the man evades them, they go in hot pursuit. They find him over the dead body of a bakemono, cutting off it's head. This man seens to be the Little Scorpion, but he is in quite the haste. Yatori tells him about their search, but Little Scorpion reveals that he was pursuing another goblin. With the help of the air kami conjured by Sumire, the group manages to find the bakemono, dead by one of Little Scorpions arrows and lying in the mud. Yatori spots other six goblins preparing an ambush and the group attacks. They make short work of the evil creatures, although Tsukiko sustains serious injuries from a lucky knife to the chest. After the battle, Little Scorpion collects more heads in a misguided attempt to fall in the favour of the Lady of Kyuden Chirei. Yatori knows about her, a claimant of Hantei blood, daughter of the foolish Otomo Banu, that claimed to be the last of the Hantei line. It seems the Phoenix clan were trying to use this woman as a pretender for the Jade Throne, but the ascension of Empress Iweko to the Heavens and the corruption of this pretender put a stop to such ambitions. She is now a damned woman fighting a losing war against the evils lurking in Dragon Heart Plain. The conversation then turns to the local eta. Little Scorpion tells them about the grisly murders that happened during Spring and Summer. Someone was killing heimin, geisha and even grew so bold as to attack ronin. The investigation was going badly, as Kitsuki Hitoko was gravely sick and his grandson Haro took over. They finally caught and hanged Jakyu, a madman eta. After later enquires on the eta village they learned that Jakyu's descent into madness started three years ago, when he lost all his relatives to a spring fever that cursed the village. Not seeing the connection to Blood Magic, the group pressed Little Scorpion for further information. He pointed out that the victims either had missing organs or unnatural growths. He confessed to knowing little about Blood Magic, but he saw influence of Jigoku and this seemed to match his experience. Promising to help the party while he was on Nanashi Mura, they parted ways. On a private investigation, Yatori learned that Sun Doru's intel was supplied by the Kuroiban. Strangely, no activity of the Scorpion clan was observed by the eta in the last few years - except for Little Scorpion. After their investigation, they attended to the duel between Kitsuki Haro and Takehiko. Hokusai managed to persuade them to duel with bokken, keeping matter between them. Even so, the event was bloody, ending in a kharmic strike. A strike to Takehiko's nose came dangerously close to breaking his skull bones, but both men received assistance from Sumire. Hitoko accepted that they weren't conspirators, but was still not pleased with the letter sent by Sun Doru. Agreeing that it was no use to argue with them, he replied to Sun Doru in letter.